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Anti-Discrimination Board of NSW
ANNUAL REPORT 2007-08

Contents

Statutory Board 2007-08
President’s report
Review of operations
About the Anti-Discrimination Board
Ethnic Affairs Priority Statement Report
Anti-discrimination law in NSW
30 years of anti-discrimination law
Anti-Discrimination Act 30th anniversary
Enquiry service
Conciliation service
Education service
Consultations
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Service
Newcastle office
Wollongong office
Legal Officer
Liaison and support
Financial statement
Structure of the Board
Current publications 2007-08
Sticks and stones
Contact details

Photo caption: One of the winners in the Board’s 30th anniversary photo competition, Playing together in harmony by Arthur Roy.

STATUTORY BOARD 2007-08

Stepan Kerkyasharian AM

Stepan became President of the Anti-Discrimination Board in September 2003, and continues as CEO and Chair of the Community Relations Commission For a Multicultural NSW. He became a Member of the Order of Australia in 1992, and received the Olympic Order in 2000. In June 2007 he was conferred with the degree of Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) by the University of Sydney.

Phillipa McDermott

Phillipa works for the Employment Solutions Branch with the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. Her main interests are Indigenous media and arts and Indigenous and human rights, and she has represented Indigenous media interests at the United Nations. She is on the Board of the Gadigal Information Service, the Lloyd McDermott Rugby Development Team and the Tullagulla Aboriginal Cultural Centre.

Suzanne Jamieson

Suzanne is a Senior Lecturer in work and organisational studies at the University of Sydney. She has completed a doctorate in women and occupational health and safety, and has done extensive research in gender and discrimination issues in the workplace.

Cameron Murphy

Cameron is a Manager at International Underwriting Services, one of the largest providers of income protection in Australia, and President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties. He has been extensively involved in working to eliminate discrimination, particularly in the areas of gender discrimination, HIV/AIDS and ethnicity.

Peter Wertheim AM

Peter is a solicitor. He is the Honorary Secretary of the Joint Jewish Communal Appeal; the President and Chair of the Joint Committee for Jewish Higher Education, a Member of the Board of Management of the Great Synagogue, Sydney, and has been the Honorary Solicitor for the Aboriginal Medical Service, Redfern, since 1984.

Photo caption: Photos from left: Stepan Kerkyasharian, Phillipa McDermott, Suzanne Jamieson, Cameron Murphy, Peter Wertheim.

My thanks to all the Board’s staff for their professionalism and commitment, including our Legal Officer and Liaison and Support team. Thanks also to the Statutory Board for their ongoing commitment and advice during the year, and to the members of our advisory and consultation committees who give us valuable input on issues of community concern.

Stepan Kerkyasharian AM
President

REVIEW OF OPERATIONS

Enquiry and conciliation service

Objectives

Continue to develop contacts with employer and industry networks.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service

Objectives

Target new markets for education services

Wollongong office

Objectives

Continue to process exemptions

Liaison and support

Objective

Continue to refine in-house database.

Successful conciliation - Age discrimination

An 18-year-old woman applied for employment as a receptionist with a motel. She said that when she rang about the position the contact person said she sounded very young and then enquired about her age. She said that they then told her that she was too young for the position and they were seeking someone older.

The motel’s management said that none of its employees could recall the conversation, but the contact person had advised all applicants that they must be 18 years of age as the position entailed receiving and delivering orders for alcohol. They said that the successful applicant was aged 18 and suggested that the complainant had misunderstood the conversation.

The complaint was resolved when the motel agreed to review and re-issue its anti-discrimination policy to all employees. The parties also agreed that the complainant would undertake a work placement with the motel as part of the her TAFE hospitality course.

Photo captions
1. Performers from the Bankstown Talent Advancement Program with Board President Stepan Kerkyasharian (centre back) at the writing competition presentation ceremony at Parliament House in May 2008.
2. One of the winners in the Board’s 30th anniversary photo competition, The Liberty Swing by Cassandra Stericker.

ABOUT THE ANTI-DISCRIMINATION BOARD

The Anti-Discrimination Board was set up under the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW) to administer that Act. Our role is to promote anti-discrimination and EEO (equal employment opportunity) principles and policies throughout NSW. We are a business centre within the NSW Attorney General’s Department.

Functions of the Board

We try to prevent discrimination from occurring. We inform the people of NSW about their rights and responsibilities under anti-discrimination law, and explain how they can prevent and deal with discrimination.

We do this through consultations, education programs, seminars, talks and participating in community functions, the production and distribution of written information and our website.

We handle complaints of discrimination. We provide an enquiry service for people who want to know about their rights or responsibilities under anti-discrimination law. We also investigate complaints of discrimination and conciliate complaints when appropriate.

We advise the Government on discrimination matters, and may also make recommendations to the Attorney General about applications for exemption from the Anti-Discrimination Act.

The President and the Board

Stepan Kerkyasharian AM became the President of the Anti-Discrimination Board on 15 September 2003. Mr Kerkyasharian also continues as the CEO and Chair of the Community Relations Commission.

The members of the Board are the President as Chair, and four members appointed by the Governor of NSW. The members in 2007-08 were Suzanne Jamieson, Phillipa McDermott, Cameron Murphy and Peter Wertheim. (See page 2 for more information.)

Branches

The Board has three branches:

Liaison and Support Branch – provides support services to assist in achieving the primary goals of the Board, particularly financial control and information technology. The Managers in 2007-08 were Darryl Brown (until November 2007), Chris Thompson (acting from November 2007 to April 2008) and Mohinder Singh (acting from April 2008).

The Board’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander team includes complaint handling and education staff who provide culturally specific services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. The team leaders in 2007-08 were Donald Jenner (acting to November 2007) and Felicity Huntington (acting from November 2007).

The Board has regional offices in Newcastle and Wollongong that handle complaints and provide education services for those areas. The Newcastle Manager in 2007-08 was Paul Santone, and the Wollongong Manager was Gerardo de Liseo.

The Board also employs a Legal Officer who advises the President, Board and staff on legal matters.

Staff

The Board has 38.2 (full-time equivalent) salaried positions, of which 25 are full-time and 22 are part-time. Thirty-six are located in Sydney and 11 in the two regional offices.

At 30 June 2008 the Board was employing an additional 0.2 FTE trainer on a temporary basis to cover demand for the Board’s training services. Four temporary staff were employed in positions that were funded internally from savings in other vacancies through the year (see page 38 for details).

Eleven staff are male (21%), and 36 are female (79%). Six have been with the Board for 15 or more years, nine for 10-14 years, eleven for 5-9 years, eight for 2-4 years, and thirteen for less than 2 years. Of the 47 employees at the Board on 30 June 2008, 34 (72%) were permanent employees and 13 (28%) were temporary.

Training and development

The Board encouraged a high level of participation in training and development, in accordance with the Attorney-General’s Department’s training policy.

All staff engaged in some form of training or development during the year. Staff undertook training in areas including leadership, communication skills, workplace ethical standards, conciliation skills, handling difficult complainants, recruitment and selection, and accounting. Some of these courses were conducted by the Attorney-General’s Department and others were with private training providers.

New members of the Occupational Health and Safety Committee are undertaking mandatory training in OHS from Workcover accredited trainers. Many staff also undertook training in the use of TTY equipment.

Some staff, including members of the management team and Conciliation Officers, attended a two-day Human Rights Conference in Melbourne.

Successful conciliation - Sexual harassment and victimisation

A woman employed in a senior role complained that her team leader sexually harassed her by subjecting her to unwelcome touching and inappropriate language including a reference to women’s genitals. She alleged that when she complained about the conduct her manager did not to address the conduct and victimised her by overlooking her for a promotion because he felt that she was too stressed.

The team leader admitted to some of the touching and swearing but said that a reasonable person would not have construed the incidents as being of a sexual nature and would not have been offended. The complaint was resolved when the complainant accepted a payment of $6,000 without admission of liability from the respondents.

Photo caption: Stepan Kerkyasharian, Elizabeth Wing, Sharmalee Elkerbout, Mohinder Singh,
Felicity Huntington, Paul Santone, Gerardo de Liseo.

Ethnic Affairs Priority Statement

The Board has addressed the requirements of the Ethnic Affairs Priority Statement report in the following ways:

Planning and evaluation

The Board is committed to inclusive processes such as:

The Board continues to publish a community poster Say no to discrimination featuring 12 languages.

Photo caption: Attorney General John Hatzistergos presents a certificate to Sankalpa Gurung, a finalist in the years 10-12 category of the Board’s 2007-08 writing competition.

Anti-Discrimination law in NSW

Under the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW) (ADA), certain types of discrimination and harassment are against the law.

Discrimination occurs when a person with a particular personal characteristic is treated less favourably than a person who does not have that characteristic. Discrimination may include harassment because of the relevant personal characteristic.

Behaviour that is against the law includes the following:

registered clubs (any club that sells alcohol or has gaming machines).

Direct and indirect discrimination

Discrimination can be direct or indirect. Direct discrimination means treating someone unfairly compared to someone else in the same or similar circumstances, because of their sex, race, marital status, disability, homosexuality, age, transgender status or carers’ responsibilities – for example, refusing to hire a woman because she may become pregnant.

Indirect discrimination means a requirement that is the same for everyone, but has an effect or result that is unequal and unreasonable having regard to the circumstances – for example, an employer who says they need a person over a certain height might be discriminating against women and some ethnic groups.

Vilification

Vilification because of a person’s racial background, homosexuality, HIV/AIDS status or transgender status is also against the law. The ADA defines vilification as any public act that incites others to hate, have serious contempt for, or severely ridicule a person or group of people on the basis of the relevant characteristic.

Vilification laws can cover behaviour that occurs outside the usual areas of employment, goods and services etc, for example in the media or in public places.

Victimisation

It is also against the law to victimise a person because they have complained within an organisation about discrimination, made an enquiry or complained to the Anti-Discrimination Board, or assisted another person with or acted as a witness in a discrimination case. A victimisation case may be proven even if the original discrimination case is not.

Making a complaint

If a person thinks they have been discriminated against, the first stage is to contact our enquiry service to see whether their situation is covered under NSW anti-discrimination law. If it is not covered, our Enquiry Officers will suggest other avenues where the person may find help.

If the problem appears to be covered by NSW anti-discrimination law, and the person is unable to resolve the problem by other means such as using an internal grievance process in the workplace, they may decide to lodge a formal complaint with the Anti-Discrimination Board.

This involves completing one of our complaint forms or sending a letter to the President of the Board describing the type of discrimination, harassment, vilification or victimisation that has occurred, and why the person thinks it was unlawful.

If the person can’t write a letter because they have a disability or because they are a child, someone else can write it on their behalf, or an officer of the Board can help them. Complaint letters can be written in any language, and the Board will cover the cost of having them translated into English. Complaints can also be lodged in Braille.

If a complaint is clearly not covered by anti-discrimination law or is outside the Board’s 12-month time limit, it may be immediately declined by the President. If it is accepted, the next stage is to investigate the complaint more thoroughly to see if it may involve a breach of anti-discrimination law. All complaints are handled impartially, confidentially and free of charge, and there is no need for a lawyer.

Conciliation

If the complaint appears to involve a breach of anti-discrimination law, the Board then tries to conciliate the complaint. This means we try to help all the parties to the complaint to come to an agreement or settlement that will resolve it. The parties are known as the complainant (the person alleging that they have been discriminated against or harassed) and the respondent (the person allegedly responsible for the discrimination or harassment).

Many complaints are resolved through conciliation, but this can only occur if both parties to the complaint agree on a settlement. The Board has no power power to impose a settlement if the parties do not agree.

Settlements may involve the following:

the respondent giving the complainant some other form of compensation, such as a donation to charity.

In some cases, the complainant may abandon their complaint or decide to withdraw it.

The Administrative Decisions Tribunal

If a complaint cannot be conciliated, the President may decide to decline the complaint or refer the complaint to the Equal Opportunity Division of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal. The Tribunal provides a legal judgement that can be enforced or appealed.

Breastfeeding amendment

In October 2007 the NSW Parliament passed the Anti-Discrimination Amendment (Breastfeeding) Bill 2007, which amended the Anti-Discrimination Act to specifically include discrimination on the ground of breastfeeding.

The bill renders discrimination on the ground of breastfeeding unlawful in the areas of employment, State education, goods and services, accommodation and registered clubs, including both direct and indirect discrimination.

Pregnancy is covered by sex discrimination, in that it is a characteristic that appertains to women. However, the government sought to further enhance the coverage of the Anti-Discrimination Act by removing any doubt that discrimination on the ground of breastfeeding is also unlawful.

The bill inserted a new provision into the Act to make it clear that breastfeeding is also a characteristic that appertains to women, including the act of expressing milk. The bill also makes it clear that providing rights relating to breastfeeding for women cannot be interpreted as sex discrimination against men.

The Board’s education team is currently working on resources to increase public awareness about discrimination on the grounds of breastfeeding and staff will monitor complaint statistics to determine the effect of the amendment.

30 years of anti-discrimination law

1976

Discrimination on the ground of breastfeeding specifically made unlawful.

Photo caption: Staff of the Anti-Discrimination Board in 1984, with then President Carmel
Niland fifth from the left.

30th anniversary celebrations

2007 marked the 30th anniversary of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act, which came into force in 1977. The Board celebrated this milestone with three events and a number of other activities in the second half of 2007.

Formal celebration at Parliament House

The formal celebration of the anniversary was an evening ceremony at NSW Parliament House on 25 October. Guests were addressed by Attorney General John Hatzistergos, Administrative Decisions Tribunal Magistrate Nancy Henessy and Board President Stepan Kerkyasharian.

There was also a performance by young singers from Bankstown Council’s Talent Advancement Program, and an exhibition featuring case studies, excerpts from the Act and entries in the anniversary photo competition (see below).

Attendees at the event included NSW Chief Justice Jim Spiegelman, Attorney General’s Department Director General Laurie Glanfield, Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes, NSW Minister for Juvenile Justice Barbara Perry, Allen Madden from the Cadigal people, present and past Board members, members of the Board’s Advisory Committees and other significant people in the Board’s history.

Forum on history and future of discrimination law

The second event was a forum on the history and future of the Anti-Discrimination Act, which the Board co-hosted with the Koori Centre of Sydney University. The first part of the forum featured experts in law and human rights including Chris Ronalds SC, who was the first lawyer at the ADB in 1977.

Speaking about the launch of the Act and the early days of the Board, Ms Ronalds reminded participants how revolutionary the Act was in 1977. She said it was the first piece of legislation in the world to contain the term sexual harassment, and they had underestimated how much media attention the Act would receive.

Other speakers included Ken Davis, President of the Pride History Group, Joanna Shulman, the Principal Solicitor at the NSW Disability Discrimination Legal Centre, Dr Suzanne Jamieson, Anti-Discrimination Board member and Senior Lecturer in industrial relations at Sydney University, and Dr Belinda Smith, Lecturer in anti-discrimination law at Sydney University.

The second part of forum focussed on past and present discrimination against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Speakers included Linda Burney, a former Board member and then NSW Minister for Fair Trading, Youth and Volunteering, Warren Mundine, the CEO of the NSW Native Title Services and former ALP President, and Aboriginal barrister Tony McAvoy. Subjects covered included personal experiences of discrimination, the situation of Aboriginal women, and a comparison between South African apartheid and Australia’s treatment of Aboriginal people.

Theatre in Martin Place

The third event was a lunchtime performance in Sydney’s Martin Place by the Social Justice Theatre Troupe, illustrating the need for human rights and anti-discrimination laws. Board President Stepan Kerkyasharian also addressed the audience, and passers by enjoyed a slice of anniversary mud cake and collected postcards and factsheets.

Other activities

Other activities for the 30th anniversary included:

Developing a dedicated website to publicised the anniversary events and give information about anti-discrimination law.

Photo captions:
1. A performer from the Social Justice Theatre Troupe at Martin Place.
2. Speakers at the first part of the Sydney University forum: (L-R): Suzanne Jamieson, Ken Davis, Chris Ronalds, Belinda Smith and Joanna Shulman.
3. Allen Madden (L) and ADB Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Committee member John Walford.
4. Supreme Court Judge John Basten (L) with NSW Chief Justice Jim Spiegelman at the Parliament House celebration.
5. Linda Burney and Warren Mundine at the Sydney University forum.

Enquiry service

The Board’s Enquiries and Conciliation Branch provides two specialised advisory services – one for general calls, and one to advise employers and service providers. We receive calls from a wide range of people including individual members of the public, employers, service providers, managers, employees, advocates, community workers, public servants and others.

Take and transfer requests for publications and other Board services as required.

Many complaints about discrimination are resolved at the initial enquiry stage, as the Enquiry and Liaison Officers inform callers about their legal rights and give them suggestions and strategies on how to resolve their situation. In many instances this prevents the need for a formal complaint, which reduces the number of complaints the Board receives.

During 2007-2008, the enquiry service answered 7,539 enquiries, which is an average of approximately 30 calls per day. This is an increase of 4.8% over 2006-07, when we answered 7,194 enquiries.

As in the past, women continued to use our general enquiry service more than men – 3,700 calls from women (or 49.1%) and 2,656 from men (or 35.2%). Individuals contacting us on behalf of another person or organisation, employers, students and teachers made up the remainder of the calls.

The majority of enquiries (7,391 or 98%) were made by phone; the remainder were made by letter, telephone typewriter, email or visit to one of our offices. Most calls (4,598 or 61.1%) took between 5 and 14 minutes, but some enquiries were very complex and took 30-59 minutes to deal with (85 calls or 1.1%).

The majority of callers (5,751 or 76.3%) wanted to discuss a situation where discrimination was occurring. Only (1,509 or 15.4%) of people making enquiries were advised to lodge a formal complaint of discrimination.

Employers, personnel officers, human resources managers, service providers and legal advisers all used our Employers and Service Providers Advisory Service. This service provides specialised advice and assistance to employers and service providers on anti-discrimination issues. The number of people using the Employers and Service Providers Advisory Service in 2007-08 was 742 (9.8% of total enquiries).

For the three years up to 2007-08, the most common type of discrimination people enquired about was sex discrimination. There has been a change this year with disability discrimination now being the most frequent type of discrimination enquired about (1,324 enquiries or 16.1%). This may reflect increased awareness about disability issues in NSW and the continuing difficulty experienced in improving access and opportunities for people with disabilities.

The next most common types of discrimination people enquired about in 2007-08 were sex discrimination (1,308 enquiries or 15.9%) and race discrimination (1002 enquiries or 12.2%).

The majority of enquiries continued to be employment-related – 4,230 enquiries (55.3%). The second largest area of discrimination enquirers called about was the provision of goods and services – 1,777 callers (15.4%).

Problems that were not covered by NSW anti-discrimination law accounted for 2,628 enquiries (or 34.9%). 231 (or 2.8%) of these calls related specifically to the caller’s employment. We generally refer these enquiries to trade unions or to the NSW Office of Industrial Relations, or we give advice about how to resolve the problem within the workplace.

Other problems not covered by the law include people who were treated unfairly because they have a criminal record, or because of their religion, or because of a personal disagreement.

Enquiries by ground 2007-08

Ground	No	%
Disability	1,324	16.1
Sex - including pregnancy, breastfeeding and sexual harassment	1,308	15.9
Race	1,002	12.2
Age	413	5.0
Carers’ responsibilities	350	4.3
Homosexuality	137	1.7
Marital status	124	1.5
Racial vilification	96	1.2
Victimisation	94	1.1
Transgender	64	0.8
Homosexual vilification	19	0.2
HIV/AIDS vilification	17	0.2
Compulsory retirement	13	0.2
Association	8	0.1
Transgender vilification	7	0.1
Advertisement	6	0.1
Aiding/abetting	5	0.1
HIV/AIDS	3	0.0
Obstruction	1	0.0
All grounds	602	7.3
Not covered by ADA – work not harassment	231	2.8
Not covered by ADA - other problems	2,397	29.2
Total	8,221*	100

* The total number of enquiries by ground is greater than the total enquiries received because some enquiries covered multiple grounds.

Enquiries by area 2007-08

Area	No	%
Employment	4,230	55.3
Goods and services	1,177	15.4
Education	263	3.4
Accommodation	249	3.3
Registered clubs	110	1.4
Vilification	89	1.2
All areas	418	5.5
Advertisement	22	0.3
Other	1,090	14.3
Total	7,648*	100

* The total number of enquiries by area is greater than the total enquiries received because some enquiries covered multiple areas.

Photo caption: Enquiry Officers assist callers to prevent and address discrimination and harassment by providing advice about anti-discrimination law and strategies for dealing with discrimination matters.

CONCILIATION SERVICE

The conciliation service is provided by the Board’s Enquiries and Conciliation Branch, and operates from the Board’s three offices in Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong.

The Board provides a confidential, neutral and free service to the community. We investigate complaints of alleged breaches of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW) (ADA) and where appropriate we conduct a conciliation conference to assist the parties to come to a mutually acceptable resolution of the complaint (see pages 11-12 for more information about the complaint process).

In 2007-08 the branch continued to work on a new database for recording complaints. The database is designed to be both a file registration system and a case management tool. The case management functions will increase efficiency, for example by linking the database to standard documents and letters, giving workload management reports to staff and managers and allowing greater monitoring of trends.

We have migrated the data from two old databases to the new one and have been using it since January 2008. However we are not yet using all of the features as these are still being fine-tuned. It is hoped that full implementation will occur in early 2008-09.

Complaints received

This year the Board received 1,144 formal complaints of discrimination, with a profile similar to previous years. As the table shows, the most common complaints are still on the grounds of sex, disability and race.

The proportion of complaints under each ground is very consistent with previous years. Sex discrimination complaints (including sexual harassment) numbered 242 (21.2%) in 2007-08 compared with 240 (22%) in 2006-07. Disability discrimination complaints rose slightly to 239
(20.9%) compared with 213 (19.4%) in 2006-07.

Race discrimination complaints fell to 211 (18.4%%) in 2007-08 compared with 225 (20.5%%) in 2006-07, but were still higher than the 181 (16.6%) in 2005-06. Racial vilification complaints fell again this year, with 16 complaints (1.4%) compared with 25 (2.2%) in 2006-07. This represents a return to previous levels after higher numbers of race discrimination and racial vilification complaints between 2005 and 2007.

Also consistent with previous years, employment-related complaints continue to be the single largest area of complaint at 681 (59.5%) compared with 633 (57.7%) in 2006-07. Complaints relating to the work environment or harassment again increased from 408 (64.5%) in 2006-07 to 415 complaints in 2007-08, although the percentage is lower at 60.9%.

Complaints relating to the provision of goods and services (294 or 25.7%) also increased in number relative to 2006-07 with a marginal difference in percentage.

The proportion of complainants this year that did not identify their ethnicity or national origin remains stable: 946 (84.2%) compared to 925 (84.2%) in 2006-07. Of those that did, the largest group again identified as Aboriginal (62 or 5.4%). The second largest group identified India as their country of origin (16 or 1.4%) followed by Australia (15 or 1.3%).

Complaints received by ground and area 2007-08

	Emp	Goods +servs	Acc	Educ	Clubs	Qual bodies	Racial vil	Homo vil	HIV vil	Trans vil	Other	Total	%
Sex	203	23	0	6	3	0	0	0	0	0	7	242	21.2
Disability	103	102	11	9	4	0	0	0	0	0	10	239	20.9
Race	93	81	3	18	6	1	0	0	0	0	9	211	18.4
Victimisation	111	13	1	8	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	137	12.0
Age	46	16	6	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	71	6.2
Carers’ responsibilities	46	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	46	4.0
Homosexuality	20	8	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	31	2.5
Marital status	10	5	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	18	1.6
Racial vilification	0	0	0	0	0	0	16	0	0	0	0	16	1.4
Transgender	0	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	13	1.1
Aiding unlawful act	8	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	10	0.9
Homosexual vilification	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0	0	0	7	0.6
HIV/AIDS vilification	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0.1
Transgender vilification	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0.3
Other	25	21	2	1	4	0	0	0	0	0	11	64	5.6
Not specified	16	12	0	2	6	0	0	0	0	0	5	35	3.1
Total	681	294	27	44	23	1	16	7	1	3	47	1144	100
%	59.5	25.7	2.4	3.8	2.0	0.1	1.4	0.6	0.1	0.3	4.1	100

Types of employment complaints 2007-08

	No	%
Work environment and harassment	415	60.9
Dismissal	93	13.7
Classification/benefits	67	9.8
Recruitment/selection	62	9.1
Resignation	13	1.9
Transfer	9	1.3
Promotion	8	1.2
Retrenchment/redundancy	8	1.2
Demotion	3	0.4
Retirement	2	0.3
Other	1	0.1
Total	681	100

Type of employer 2007-08

	No	%
Private enterprise	371	54.5
Individual male	81	11.9
State govt department	54	7.9
State statutory body	37	5.4
Hospital	25	3.7
Education (public)	21	3.1
Local government	20	2.9
Registered clubs	12	1.8
Individual female	9	1.3
Non-profit association	5	0.7
Education (private)	3	0.4
Govt business enterprise	2	0.3
Cwlth statutory authority	1	0.1
Trade union	1	0.1
Commonwealth dept	1	0.1
Media organisation	1	0.1
Other	8	1.2
Not known	30	4.4
Total	681	100

Complaint processing

The Board continues to provide an efficient complaint handling process. There is no backlog of complaints and the Board allocates every complaint to a complaint handler as soon as it is received.

Conciliation staff have continued to achieve excellent results in meeting nearly all of the target timeframes for finalising complaints. This is despite the absence of several officers for extended periods during the year.

We finalised 91% of files within 12 months of receipt, again exceeding the target of 85%. The average time taken to finalise files in 2007-08 was 5.59 months, which is similar to last year (5.5 months).

Following are the targets and their rate of achievement:

Complaint to be finalised within	Target	Actual
2 months	20%	32%
3 months	30%	34%
6 months	80%	62%
12 months	85%	91%
18 months	100%	98%

As always, the Board is committed to providing an accessible service to rural and remote areas. This year 10 officers made a total of 30 days travel to conduct conciliation conferences in regional or country NSW.

Outcomes

The Board finalised 1,073 written complaints of discrimination in 2007-08, a slight decrease compared to last year.

The number of complaints resolved at or after a conciliation conference (221 or 20.6%) was less than last year’s figure of 284 (25.5%), but consistent with 221 (21%) in 2005-06. A further 114 complaints (10.6%) were settled by negotiation without the need to call a formal conciliation conference, similar to the 115 (10.3%) settled in 2006-07.

Referrals to the Administrative Decisions Tribunal for matters that were not conciliable increased to 159 (14.9%) compared to 143 (12.8%) in 2006-07, and 115 or 10.7% in 2005-06. This represents an increasing trend over the last 3 years.

The number of complaints declined under s92 of the ADA (for reasons such as lacking in substance, being misconceived or not being a contravention of the ADA) remains at similar levels – 58 (5.4%) in 2007-08 compared to 57 (5.1%) in 82006-07 and 51 (4.7%) in 2005-06.

There were an additional 54 (5%) declined complaints in which the complainants exercised their right to ask the President to refer the complaint to the Administrative Decisions Tribunal, an increase from 34 (3.1%) in 2006-07. Under the amendments to the ADA which came into force in May 2005, these complainants are now required to seek leave of the Tribunal before their matter can be heard.

A proportion of complaints are withdrawn by the complainant. They may do this for a number of reasons, including lack of evidence to support the complaint, inability to provide information requested by the Board, or lack of confidence that the respondent will provide a satisfactory response.

Section 92B of the ADA requires a complainant wishing to withdraw their complaint to do so in writing to the President. The number of complaints formally withdrawn this year (96 or 8.9%) was considerably less than in 2006-07 (130 or 11.7%).

While fewer complaints were withdrawn, more were abandoned. Complaints can be regarded as abandoned when the complainant fails to respond to requests for information, there is no indication of the complainant’s intention to proceed with the complaint, or we lose contact with a complainant.
The number of complaints abandoned in 2007-08 was 202 (18.2%), an increase over the 2006-07 figure of 168 (15.1%). The abandonment process allows the complainant 12 months in certain circumstances to request the file to be reopened.

Outcome of finalised complaints 2007-08

	No	%
Settled at or after conciliation	221	20.6
Settled before conciliation	114	10.6
Referred to ADT – conciliation unsuccessful or not suitable	159	14.8
Referred to Attorney General and ADT – serious vilification	3	0.3
Declined before investigation – not a contravention	153	14.3
Declined before investigation – out of time	12	1.1
Declined before investigation – not on behalf of complainant	1	0.1
Declined after investigation – s92	58	5.4
Declined after investigation and referred to ADT	54	5.0
Withdrawn s92B	96	8.9
Abandoned	202	18.8
Total	1073	100

Successful conciliation - Carers’ responsibilities discrimination

The complainant cared for her frail elderly mother and needed to take her to medical appointments. She tried to organise the appointments so that they were all on the same day, and asked if she could take a combination of leave in order to have every Friday off work. She made a complaint of carers’ responsibilities discrimination when this request was refused.

The employer said that taking leave in this manner was unacceptable as an ongoing arrangement. They said they had provided the woman with a number of other options including working part-time on a permanent basis, which she had rejected. The complaint was resolved when it was agreed that the woman could continue to take a variety of leave to cover her absences for a fixed period of time.

Photo caption: Conciliation Officers assist many complainants and respondents to resolve complaints without the need for them to be referred to the Administrative Decisions Tribunal.

EDUCATION SERVICE

One of the Board’s core functions is to provide people with information about their rights and responsibilities under anti-discrimination legislation.

The Education Services Branch’s role is to help prevent discrimination by educating the people of NSW, employers, employees and service providers about their rights and responsibilities under anti-discrimination law.

The branch has a self-funding education program aimed mainly at employers and service providers. It also delivers talks to community groups and runs other community projects addressing specific groups. In addition, branch staff produce a range of publications and a comprehensive website.

Although the branch did not have a full complement of staff in 2007-08, it was able to achieve good results and complete a number of significant projects.

Workplace education

The workplace education program is based on providing high quality training at cost-effective prices for employers, employees and service providers. The Board’s reputation for interactive, relevant and up-to-date training has resulted in significant income, which is allocated to the cost of the program.

Each year the branch provides a great deal of in-house training for staff and managers in organisations across all industries and sectors. Our programs are designed to:
educate employees about their rights and responsibilities;
inform managers about how to make equitable decisions;
assist managers to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent bullying, harassment and discrimination;
educate organisations about the benefits of complying with EEO principles; and
give managers the skills to handle grievances effectively.

Organisations using our in-house training service also receive the following benefits:
guidelines and handouts from the training session;
advice and information on a consultancy basis from our Senior Workplace Relations Consultants provide; and
free review of the organisation’s policies.

Some companies use our training service for their offices throughout Australia and in some cases overseas, as they are pleased with the quality of our service and prefer to maintain the consistency of the information provided to their staff.

As well as in-house training, the branch runs seminar programs during the year. The seminar series conducted in 2007-08 has proved to be highly successful, raising over $100,000.
Until the end of 2007 the seminars were run in blocks of 3 series per year, but in 2008 we have spread them throughout the year to minimise waiting time for participants if they had just missed a seminar.

The 2007-08 series included the following seminars:

Recruitment and termination.

Two new seminars will be trialled in 2008-09, a lunchtime seminar entitled EEO for CEOs and a breakfast seminar for small business.

In 2007-08 we delivered 492 on-site training sessions for employers and service providers and ran 19 employer seminars, reaching a total of 7,721 participants. The total earnings from the self-funding program, including training fees, seminars and publications, was $696,247. This figure is higher than last year, reflecting the fact that previously vacant positions were filled in 2007-08 and we were able to deliver more full-day training sessions.

INSET BOX

“Engaging the NSW ADB allowed our organisation to reiterate employees’ rights and responsibilities in an interactive forum. The facilitator was well informed and able to apply consistent messages through real life workplace examples in order to engage staff. The program is highly recommended for any organisation.”

David Pegley, Chief Executive Officer, Cash Services Australia

“The Transport Workers’ Union of NSW has been using the services of the NSW AntiDiscrimination Board’s training division for a number of years now. We have found that all their trainers deliver the training in a timely, efficient and effective manner. We also found that the assistance given to the TWU in the development of our EEO policy and procedures was invaluable.

All our officials and staff undertake ADB EEO training when initially appointed and then a refresher course is undertaken annually. We cannot recommend the training services of the NSW Anti- Discrimination Board highly enough.”

Keith McGuckin, OH&S and Workers Compensation Advisor, TWU

Community education

With only one part-time community education worker (supported by other branch staff for specific events and projects), the Education Branch had some very positive achievements in its community program in 2007-08.

Writing competition

For the past three years the Education Branch has held a competition for school students as part of Law Week in April. In 2008 we ran a writing competition under the heading of Say No to Discrimination, which aimed to raise awareness about the problem of bullying.

All state primary and secondary schools were sent a package of information about the competition, worksheets on bullying for teachers to use to stimulate discussion and entry forms. Students were asked to write about their experiences of discrimination, harassment and bullying, and/or to describe what their community would be like without these problems.

We received over 600 entries including poems, acrostic poems, narratives, dialogues, songs, rap lyrics, role plays and essays, as well as illustrations in some cases. Many were written from a very personal perspective and reveal the immense pain and the loss of self-esteem that can result from bullying, particularly bullying related to race and homosexuality. However, the children also showed awareness about how to deal with bullying, including standing up to bullies, seeking out support, and “being nice” to the bully and befriending them.

The winners received book vouchers for themselves and their school, and all winners and runners up also received certificates. These were presented by Attorney General John Hatzistergos at a ceremony at Parliament House on 2 May, which also featured a performance by students from TAP, the Talent Advancement Program of Bankstown City Council and the NSW Department of Education and Training.

The winners were:

Kindergarten – Year 2 category: Jessica Eddy from Binda (aged 4), with a succinct entry entitled Bullies have mean mouths.

Years 3-6: Ahmad El Ammar from Peakhurst (aged 9), with a powerful and well-constructed poem entitled Sticks and Stones (reproduced on page 40).

Years 7-9: Dominic Moore from Deniliquin (aged 14), with a poem entitled Ying and Yang about racism directed at black people.

Years 10-12: Bilal Wazirzada from Lisarow (aged 16), with an entry expressing his dream for a bullying-free future entitled I hope.

The Board received some publicity about the competition including an interview on local radio and several newspaper stories. All the shortlisted entries were published on the Board’s website and are providing an ongoing resource for teachers wanting to understand children’s experiences of bullying.

Community education sessions and information stalls

During the year we continued to work with the community by conducting training sessions for particular groups as they request it. In 2007-08 these included:

Open Court day (Blacktown).

Publications

The Board produces a wide range of publications which are a valuable tool in educating the people of NSW about their rights and responsibilities under anti-discrimination law.

Our publications include an extensive set of factsheets on the different types of discrimination covered by the Anti-Discrimination Act, and specific guidelines for employers, employees and providers of different types of services.

2007-08 saw the results of our program to revise and rationalise our existing publications for employers and service providers, some of which were first produced over 10 years ago. We produced a significantly updated and redesigned edition of our Guidelines for non-supervisory staff, which is part of the package for people in non-supervisory positions who attend our training sessions.

We produced a new publication entitled Guidelines for Managers and supervisors, which is a combination of three previous publications, Anti-Discrimination and EEO Guidelines for managers, team leaders and supervisors, How to implement EEO in any organisation and Harassment in the workplace. The design matches the guidelines for non-supervisory staff so they form a set. This publication is part of the package given to managers and supervisors in training courses.

We also continued to revise and update our factsheets and other publications, including incorporating information in all publications about the amendment to the Anti-Discrimination Act relating to breastfeeding. Other publications revised and redesigned this year include:

complaint form (including a new attachment explaining in 23 languages that people can write their complaint in their own language).

We produced three editions of our email newsletter Equal Time during 2007-08. Issues covered included the Board’s 30th anniversary, pioneering discrimination law, pregnancy, breastfeeding and carers’ responsibilities discrimination, and the Board’s writing competition. Other projects in 2007-08 included two editions of our seminar calendar, the annual report and ongoing production of promotional material such as postcards, notepads, fridge magnets, pens, rulers and balloons.

Factsheets for people with intellectual disabilities and people from non-English speaking backgrounds are currently under review, and we are also working on a new factsheet about breastfeeding. These will be published in early 2008-09.

Other plans for 2008-09 include a new brochure explaining all the Board’s services, continuing to revise existing publications including our guidelines for real estate agents, for obtaining an exemption to the Anti-Discrimination Act, for respondents to complaints and for conciliation conferences. We also hope to produce resources for school students. We will also produce a new publications order form.

Website

The Board’s website is the first point of contact for many people with enquiries about discrimination, harassment or the role of the Board. It is part of the Lawlink site, which is hosted by the Attorney General’s Department, and has recently been enhanced with an expanded bandwidth and simplified navigation and design.

The website covers information about anti-discrimination law, how to make a complaint, training services, the Board’s publications, advice for employers and service providers, information in community languages, and the Board’s electronic newsletter, Equal Time. It also contains news about recent activities and special projects such as the Board’s 30th anniversary and the writing competition.

The number of people accessing the website in 2007-08 averaged around 24,000 per month. The most popular pages were about anti-discrimination law and workplace guidelines, and the most common searches related to sexual harassment, vilification, EEO, anti-discrimination law and homosexual discrimination.

Staff from the Education branch worked with the Information Technology Support Officer to coordinate the ongoing management and updating of the website in 2007-08. We are constantly reviewing and consolidating existing material to ensure that the website is accurate, up-to-date and reflects current law and procedures. In the future we hope to develop facilities that will enable users to order publications and register for seminars online.

Photo captions:
1. The Board’s Senior Workplace Relations Consultants, seen here with Education Services Manager Sharmalee Elkerbout (right), deliver an integrated and innovative program which enables employers and service providers to understand their obligations under
anti-discrimination law.
2. Winners of the 2008 writing competition (from left): Dominic Moore (years7-9), Bilal Wazirzada (years 10-12), Jessica Eddy (years K-2) and Ahmad El Ammar (years 3-6).
3. The Board’s Community Education Officer (left) at the Attormey General’s Department stall at the Parramatta Council International Day for People with Disabilities.
4. Publications Officers produce a wide range of material including posters (seen in the background), guidelines, brochures
and CDs.

CONSULTATIONS

The Board convenes consultations with specific groups to provide an opportunity to discuss issues facing the community in question, relevant trends and legislative change.

Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Consultation

This consultation met three times during the year. Some issues discussed include:

The requirement for transgender people in NSW to have had gender reassignment surgery in order to get their birth certificate changed, whereas in England surgery is no longer essential to get a new certificate.

Members of this consultation include:The AIDS Council of NSW, the City of Sydney, the Crime Prevention Division of the Attorney General’s Department, Frankel Lawyers, the Gender Centre, the Inner City Legal Centre, MOD Films, NSW Police Force, NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages, Sex Workers Outreach Project, University of Sydney, and the Women and Girls Emergency Centre.

ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER SERVICE

Discrimination is a significant issue for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities, and a major factor contributing to the socio-economic disadvantage facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Therefore it is important that they can access appropriate mechanisms for dealing with complaints about discrimination.

The Board’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Outreach Team provide services to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community through complaint resolution, education and training. The team has three staff including the Team Leader/Conciliation Officer, an Education Officer and an Enquiry/Community Liaison Officer.

This means that where appropriate and possible, complaints from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are dealt with by an Indigenous complaint handler. Another important feature of the outreach team’s work is to network, develop and maintain relationships with other government and non-government agencies and community groups throughout NSW.

Complaint handling

In 2007-08 the Board received 62 complaints of discrimination from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, which is similar to 2006-07.

Given the anecdotal evidence the outreach team hears about the level of discrimination experienced by Indigenous people, the number of complaints may indicate that the process of translating experience of discrimination into resolved complaints needs to be overseen more effectively. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Outreach Team will continue to monitor this issue and discuss it with the team’s Advisory Committee.

The most common ground of complaint was race discrimination, with 50 complaints received. This represents 23.7% of all race discrimination complaints received by the Board in 2007-08.
The most frequent area of complaints received from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in 2007-08 was employment (31 complaints or 50%), followed by goods and services (26 complaints or 41.9%).

Complaints from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people represent 5.4% of all complaints received by the Board in 2007-08, while Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people constitute 2.1% of the total NSW population.

Statistics for the processing and outcomes of complaints from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are included in the general figures for the conciliation service on page 21.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander complaints 2007-08

	Emp	Goods +servs	Accom	Educ	Clubs	Racial vil	Other	Total	%
Race	22	25	0	0	2	0	1	50	80.6
Age	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	8.1
Disability	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	3.2
Victimisation	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1.6
Sex	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1.6
Racial vilification	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	1.6
Aiding unlawful act	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1.6
Total	31	26	1	0	2	1	1	62	100

Education and training

In 2007-08 the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander team continued to provide an education program to raise the awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities about their rights and responsibilities under NSW anti-discrimination law.

Combined forums Do It Right program

The Board has continued to participate in the Do it Right forums throughout NSW in 2007-08. This program provides free seminars informing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employers, workers, community leaders and other people who give advice in the community about rights and responsibilities under a range of legislation in NSW.

In 2007-08 the Board participated in forums at Castlereagh, Collarenebri, Emerton and Coonamble. Other organisations involved included the NSW Office of Fair Trading, the Office of Industrial Relations, WorkCover NSW, the Australian Taxation Office, the Legal Aid Commission, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman and the Financial Ombudsman Services Ltd.

New pilot program

This year the Do it Right project initiated a new pilot program with the Western Sydney Region of the Department of Education to educate high school students under the Aboriginal Leadership Program. The Aboriginal Leadership Program is designed to develop students that show leadership qualities by enhancing their knowledge and skills.


Held at Emerton, the pilot session provided consistent and comprehensive information to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students about their rights and obligations as an employee and their employer’s rights and obligations. This included issues such as harassment and discrimination, workplace safety, workers compensation, tax, superannuation, consumer rights, how to deal with banking and phone issues, fair trading, what to do when starting a business and where to go for legal advice.

The pilot session received a very favourable response from the students, who commented that it covered information they had not known previously and would be useful in the future. They also appreciated the presentation of information from different organisations at the one forum.

The Do it Right team is hoping to continue the program in 2008-09 to reach all students doing years 9-12 in the Western Sydney region, and possibly expanind to other regions in the future.

Good Service forums

The Good Service – servicing your community forums provide information about consumer issues for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

These forums are a joint initiative between the Board and the NSW Energy and Water Ombudsman, the Office of Fair Trading, the NSW Ombudsman, the Commonwealth Ombudsman, Legal Aid NSW, the Financial Ombudsman Service Ltd, and the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.

In 2007-08 forums were held in Redfern, Wilcannia and Broken Hill.

Residential Tenancy seminars

In 2007-08 staff from the Outreach Team worked in partnership with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) who organise seminars for real estate agents and private landlords. Real estate agents gain points for their professional development program by attending the seminars.

The Board presented information on the rights and responsibilities of agents and landlords under the Anti-Discrimination Act. Other participants included the OFT, the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal, Centrelink and the NSW Fire Brigade. In 2007-08 seminars were held in Belmore, Wyong, Toronto, St Marys and Lidcombe.

Outreach

The team also undertakes outreach work to provide information about rights and responsibilities under the Anti-Discrimination Act. In 2007-08 team members and other staff ran information stalls at the following events: